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CU will be in Pac-12 South, with UCLA and Southern Cal

By Kyle Ringo Camera Sports Writer

Posted:
10/21/2010 02:11:05 PM MDT

Updated:
10/21/2010 07:27:40 PM MDT

The Buffs play UCLA in 2003. (Cliff Grassmick / Camera file photo)

SAN FRANCISCO -- When University of Colorado mascot Ralphie the Buffalo darts out of her pen and rumbles onto Folsom Field on fall Saturdays, leading the football team on the field, she does so heading south.

Now the entire school is following her lead.

Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott announced significant decisions in the expansion of his league Thursday that will serve as the foundation for years to come, including divisional alignment that places Colorado and Utah in the Pac-12 South Division, a plan for equal revenue sharing beginning in 2012 and a decision to hold a conference championship game in football at the home field of the team with the best record beginning in the 2011 season.

"This is truly an historic day for the Pac-12 Conference," Scott said. "We've achieved some monumental goals in a relatively short period of time that position us very well for the future."

Scott said the conference engaged in "a thorough and rigorous process of analysis, study and debate and consensus building" in deciding what the structure of the conference would be in the future.

Scott made the announcements during a press conference at the Fairmont Hotel here following a meeting of the league's presidents and chancellors who voted unanimously on all the decisions. Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano represented CU.

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DiStefano said the fact that Colorado will share revenues equally with its conference rivals in the future is an "extremely significant" development for the school and the athletic department. DiStefano said CU has received between $9 and $10 million in conference distributions from the Big 12 in recent years and will begin receiving $12-$14 million in its new conference.

"I think that was the one key piece that obviously we would never have gotten in the Big 12, but we have here," DiStefano said. "That's going to, I think, move our program forward as we look to the future."

But Colorado must first overcome a one-year blow to its budget.

At this time, Colorado and Utah are not scheduled to receive any conference distribution from the league in the first year. Colorado begins to receive its full share in the 2012-13 school year when the league's new media rights deal kicks in. Utah will be gradually phased in and will not receive a full share of conference distributions until the 2014-15 school year.

Athletic director Mike Bohn said CU is continuing to negotiate with the Pac-12 to receive some conference money in its first year. He said the loss of conference revenue will be somewhat mitigated by CU being able to keep all of its revenue from non-conference games and television appearances. A key example is the Buffs' trip to Ohio State for which CU will earn $1.4 million plus television revenue for a nationally televised game.

DiStefano said that Scott began the process earlier this summer with two goals, to form two competitive divisions and to agree on equal revenue sharing. It is the first time in the history of the league an equal revenue sharing policy has been adopted. In the past, revenue was divided based on a formula that had a heavy emphasis on television appearances and favored the schools in the larger markets.

Scott said equal revenue sharing begins in 2012 when the league's new media rights deal will begin. He said all of the conference's television and Internet rights will be aggregated and sold together. Radio rights and local sponsorships remain the property of individual institutions.

Scott said USC and UCLA will receive a $2 million revenue "premium" in any year that the league's revenue falls below $170 million. He said that decision was agreed to because the two Los Angeles area schools have traditionally made more in television revenue than their conference partners and the premium will insure those schools see the same growth in revenue as the other schools in the league.

DiStefano said the conference believes it will hit the $170 million mark quickly.

The Buffs will trade long-held and sometimes contentious rivalries with Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State in the Big 12 North for new battles with USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah in the Pac-12 South.

That decision alone might be the most significant development for Colorado athletic programs since the football team won the national title in 1990. CU's largest alumni base outside the state is located in the Southern California and Arizona areas and the Buffs will now make regular appearances in those areas. It is also prime recruiting territory for coaches in most sports and a longtime base from which the CU football and basketball programs have drawn

He said he came to the meeting prepared for one of his peers to suggest making a change in the division alignment approved by the athletic directors, but DiStefano said the topic didn't come up in the meeting of presidents and chancellors.

DiStefano said Colorado's move to the Pac-12 and its position in the south division will significantly boost fundraising because there are 50,000 alumni in the Pac-12 footprint versus 15,000 in the Big 12 states not including Colorado.

Scott said divisions were decided using four criteria, including the importance of rivalry games, competitive balance, geography and fan friendliness.

Scott used a chart showing each current Pac-10 team's total number of conference wins in history to demonstrate the balance between the divisions. The top four teams in the north division have combined for 224 wins over the history of the Pac-10 while the four current Pac-10 members in the south division have combined for 230 wins.

Football is the only sport in which divisions will be used. Schedules, including one for the 2011 season, are still being finalized and should be available in 4-6 weeks. Scott said the Bay Area schools in the north division and the Los Angeles schools in the south will continue to play every season to preserve rivalries that date back more than 70 years.

That somewhat complicates scheduling each teams nine conference games a season. Colorado will play the five schools in the south division every year, with Utah most likely replacing Nebraska as the final regular season game of the year on rivalry weekend.

With the California schools playing each other every year regardless of division, Colorado will play the northwest schools -- Washington, Washington State, Oregon and Oregon State -- three times every four years and Cal and Stanford twice every four years.

That insures that every student-athlete will make at least one trip to every school in the conference in their career.

"I couldn't be more pleased and feel very energized about where we're going," Scott said.

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